How They Were Created
by zero yasha
Summary: How the 'Flan' was created... A story told by Lloyd.


Disclaimer: Tales of Symphonia does _not_ belong to me. Sure, I'd _like_ it to, but it doesn't…so don't sue me…

Where this fic came from, you may ask…? From out of thin air of course! ...and an over-active hate for 'Flan' monsters in every game they may reside within…mostly within Final Fantasy though.

The timeline for this fic…? Good question…I haven't played ToS in forever…so somewhere after they've visited Tethe'alla for the first time and went back to Sylverant. Sorry, can't be helped…my game is apparently broken…

Now, we shall all see how these evil, pudding-fill creatures were created! Enjoy!

* * *

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**How they were Created…**

-

* * *

A party of tired travelers sat around a warm, bright camp fire as they watched the sun set behind the mountains of the Hima region, making the large Tethe'alla 'moon' seem brighter and larger than ever.

"Wow," commented Lloyd, who was sitting on a large rock about a foot closer to the fire than anyone else. "You'd never think that that moon up there was really another planet without going there for yourself…"

"But Lloyd!" Colette said, shaking her small fists up and down. "We were just there a few hours ago! We know that it's a planet!" She explained, placing her hands back onto her knees neatly.

"Erm…that's not really what I meant, Colette…" Lloyd muttered, though with Colette's super-angel-hearing abilities, she quickly put her hands up to her mouth sheepishly before apologizing once more.

"Oh, I'm sorry Lloyd!" She cried as Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand.

"Heh, no need to apologize, Colette!" He chirped cheerfully.

"Oh, okay then. I'm sorry." Colette said, a large smile across her face.

"How can you be sorry for being sorry…? Sheena asked, cocking an eyebrow as she edged away from the perverted Chosen of Tethe'alla once more.

Genis shrugged.

"Who knows? That's just Colette for you." He explained.

"Oh…I'm sorry…"

-

It took about a half hour before Regal had finally finished creating their gourmet dinner and they began eating.

"Wow Regal!" Lloyd called as the taller man continued to finish their desert as they ate. "This is really good!"

"Thank you." He said curtly, not bothering to look up from his bubbling concoction. "It is an old recipe from Altavista."

"Mmm!" Lloyd grunted approvingly as he stuffed his face some more.

"Lloyd Irving! Slow down!" Raine ordered as she carefully took another bite of her meal. "This isn't a race to see who can eat the fastest!"

"Mmm! Good idea, Professor!" He barked cheerfully. "Any takers…? I'll have you know that I _never_ lost an eating contest in Iselia!"

"You're on!" Genis called cheerfully as he began to shovel food into his mouth at an equal pace as the swordsman.

"Count me in too!" Zelos announced. "It's been a while since I've done something 'un-chosen-like'."

"Oh yes! Me too please!" Colette asked politely and began to place larger bites into her mouth.

"Winner gets three hundred Gald!" Lloyd called as he stuffed his face once more.

Sheena, Raine and Regal all sighed tiredly as they watched the four of them attempt to jam entire plate-fuls into their mouths. How immature…

-

As expected, Lloyd was the undisputed champion of their unofficial eating contest. Zelos and Genis grudgingly chipped in their Gald as Colette politely congratulated Lloyd on his disgusting feat.

"Marvelous…" Raine murmured sarcastically, placing her staff at her feet. "I can just see how that will help you out later life in…unlike your _studies_."

"Yeah, I know what you mean!" Lloyd agreed, obviously not catching the sarcasm in her words. "Being able to jam things into your face it quite a good skill to have…especially when angry, hammer-wielding Dwarves are chasing after you…" He explained.

"What—wait, don't answer that." Sheena said, holding up her hand to stop Lloyd before he could begin on one of his long, strange tales of what life was like living with a homicidal Dwarf. (Or at least, that was what Dirk sounded like to her…)

"So…now what…?" Genis asked as he leaned up next to his sister. "What should we do now…?"

"Hmm…good question Genis…" Lloyd muttered before turning to see the still-working Regal. "How long until desert, Regal…?"

Regal looked up thoughtfully.

"About a half an hour more. You cannot rush cooking." He explained.

"I see…" Lloyd muttered quietly.

"Would you like my help…?" Raine offered.

Everyone turned pale as they looked to Regal. This was a question of life or death…

"Erm…no. I believe that I will be fine…!" Regal finally answered after thinking fast.

"I see…" Raine muttered, though she didn't seem entirely amused. Was it really _her_ fault that her cooking ended up so badly…?

Okay, stupid question…

"Why don't you…tell a story or something…?" Regal finally asked, attempting to get the thought of Raine's horrible cooking-creations out of his mind. One 'tomato-pancake' was enough…

"Oh! Awesome idea, Regal!" Lloyd cheered, snapping his fingers together. "Anyone have a story to tell? Anyone…?" The party remained especially quiet, just like the timid Presea. "Come on…_someone_ has to have a story to tell!" He urged before Zelos finally stood.

"Well, if you insist, Lloyd my-pal! I'll tell you all about my lovely hunnies at home--!" He managed before Sheena grabbed his leg and yanked him down hard.

"No, you will _not_ tell us about those prissy little monsters that you call 'hunnies' in Meltokio!" She growled dangerously.

Zelos grinned mischievously.

"What…? Is my darling little Sheena jealou--"

_*WHACK!!*_

Sheena hit him where it hurt, and the Chosen began to roll around in agony.

"I am _not_ jealous." Sheena murmured defensively before crossing her arms over knees like before.

"I get it…" Zelos croaked as he rolled a little farther away from the summoner. He didn't _dare_ anger her anymore, or risk a tango with Volt…

Lloyd finally snapped his fingers once more as he looked around at his companions cheerfully.

"I've got one!" He exclaimed, a large grin on his face. "Ready for the story of a life time?! True too!"

Genis nodded eagerly as Sheena allowed her eyes to drift to the Swordsman as well. Zelos grunted approvingly, though couldn't move in his feudal position, and Colette clapped her hands together cheerfully. Raine nodded lightly and Regal pricked his head a bit, as if listening as well.

Presea did not move.

That was not a surprise to any of them.

"Okay then! Hold onto your hats folks, because it starts now!"

"What hats…?"

-

"It was a dark and stormy night in Iselia, as a tall, staff-wielding sorcerer began her experiments once more for the night. All other attempts before had failed miserably, making nothing more than mutated masses of Mithos-knows-what… but she didn't care. She discarded them like they were nothing as she continued on, attempting to create the ultimate of the ultimate of her creations. Few times, did she ever really succeed…and those few times, she had fed them to her minions, who were little more than pleased with her feats…thus, created her urge to create something even larger, and better than anything else before! Something that would wipe the grins off of those minions' faces, and make them wish that they had never doubted her in the first place."

Genis paled a little as he listened to the story, leaning against Raine a little more. Sheena seemed to hug her knees a bit more tightly, and Zelos finally sat up to face Lloyd and the fire. The darkness of the night and the bright contrast of the flames did nothing more than add to the suspenseful mood as Lloyd paused dramatically for them to take it all in. Even Presea seemed to sit up taller than normal, her eyes watching Lloyd intently.

"Making it wasn't easy; she had to admit it. Almost all of her attempts had failed within minutes of beginning…and the ones that _did_ make it out of the experimental stages just weren't satisfactory enough for her. She would destroy them herself, casting powerful spells from her staff to destroy the evidence that she had ever created them."

"Since when did Lloyd know so many big words…?" Zelos asked Sheena; she waved her hand at him to be quiet. She was already too engrossed in the story to listen to anything that the Chosen said…or did. (Not that he would ever be willing to do such a risky thing to the Summoner…)

"Then, the day…or should I say the _night,_ finally came, when she created it. _It_ was her ultimate and most prized creation. _It_ **looked** different than all of the others. _It_ **acted** different than all of the others._ It_ _**was**_ different than all of the others! _It_ was little more than a foot and a half tall…but _it_ was dangerous…more dangerous than _any_ of her other creations…more dangerous than even _she_ knew at the time…but when she would find out, it would to too late…"

It was then that Lloyd finally noticed all of the intent stares that he had gained from his little audience. Even Regal had momentarily stopped stirring to listen to his story before quickly continuing once more when his brown eyes moved his way.

Colette's mouth hung open, waiting for _anything_ to happen, and Zelos grabbed onto the grass around his ankles tightly, just as ready. Genis was now clinging onto Raine hard as the Cleric looked into the fire, her eyes clouded in thought. Sheena was hugging onto her knees even tighter than before and Presea had inched closer to the fire than any other time Lloyd had known her.

He allowed himself a small, smug grin. Who knew that he was such a good story teller…? Dirk had always waved his arm angrily and said that it was nothing more than a hoodwink…whatever that was…

"The day came when the sorcerer was to show her minions her creation, but how unfortunate for her, and all of the others, that the creature _escaped_ from her layer! Who'd of thought that something that _she_ created would flee from her vary hands? It fled from her, and her people, and hid among the mountains for _years_, slowly biding it's time. One thing that the poor sorcerer did not know was that the creature had the ability to _regenerate_, and was able to split into smaller parts of itself, creating more of its kind. Year after year the beast would continue to duplicate, and its duplicates would duplicate…until there were enough… They were wise monsters…wiser than the wolves. Wiser than the hawks…wiser than the rabbits, snakes and bees. All other monsters were _nothing_ compared to this beast…it was the ultimate creation, and for good reason."

Genis was now visibly shaking as he watched Lloyd hard. The fact that the swordsman did nothing to show that this story was fake scared him the most. Normally, he'd burst out into laughter by _now_, with some ridiculous comment, or just the thought of the final punch-line…but he only continued to pause and add to the creepy, eerie effect as the fire crackled and the crickets chirped around them. He nearly jumped onto Raine when the wind suddenly picked up, making even Zelos give out a mild cry of shock before instantly silencing himself.

"The day _finally_ came…the day that would go down in Iselia's history books, as well as the entire world's, after the events of this fateful night…" Lloyd finally said, looking hard into the fire…a trick that he learned from the traitorous Kratos, a little after he and Genis had joined up with Colette in Triet. "It was a night, not too different than a night like this, that the monsters decided it was time to strike back on the insolent fools that forced their creation…a night, just like this, that they…that they… _ATTACKED!_" Lloyd yelled loudly as he jumped up, inches away from the flames, holding out his twin swords in front of himself.

Colette cried in shock and Zelos rolled over backwards as he fumbled around for the sword at his waist to no avail. Genis clung onto Raine even tighter than before, digging his head into her orange jacket as she held out her staff and whacked Lloyd hard over the head with it. Lloyd fell over, less than an inch away from the orange flames of the fire and looked up to Raine while rubbing the top of his head.

"Wh-what was that for?!" He demanded, quickly noticing that even Sheena had pulled out her spell cards, and Presea's hand was slowly retreating from the hilt of the axe at her side.

"Don't scare Genis like that!" Raine scolded, though the paleness of her face told Lloyd that she acted on reflex, more so than to 'protect Genis'.

Lloyd slowly sat back up and crawled to his rock, before finally sitting down on it with a large sigh.

"Does that mean that you don't want to hear the rest of the story…?" He asked, twirling one of his blades expertly around his fingers and sheathing the other without looking.

"N-no!" Sheena gasped, making most pairs of eyes turn to her. "Wh-what?!" She demanded defensively, her cheeks turning a pale shade of pink. "I-I just want to see how it ends!"

"Even though it scared you so much that you took out your spell cards…?" Zelos asked, amusement in his tone.

Sheena's glare told him to shut up immediately, and his survival instincts did not disagree as he obeyed.

"All right then…any objections…?" Lloyd asked, looking around the circle for any hands and listening for any 'no's.

The only sound that filled the air was the light boiling sound from Regal's cooking, the cracking of the flames before them, and the few crickets that remained after Lloyd's little 'attack'.

"All right, if you all insist, I shall begin again." The twin swordsman said as he put away his second blade and starred deeply into the flames once more.

He had to admit…this had been the most fun he'd had all day…

-

"Now where was I before…ah yes. The _attack_…"

"No one was expecting it…and who would…? The _attack_ came from right out of the blue! Before the citizens of Iselia knew it, there was a fire in the school house and the forest around them was burning. They would have never guessed that the creature that the sorcerer had once created, many years earlier, would had returned with an entire _clan_, ready and willing for revenge…though of what the revenge was for, you may ask…?"

Lloyd paused as he looked around at his gaping audience, waiting for his answer. He looked into their wide eyes, and with a small grin, slowly allowed himself to continue.

"It was because of their appearance, of course… You see, the sorcerer may have created the _ultimate_ monster…but by far, it was no where near the prettiest. It was probably one of the ugliest, most disgusting creatures made in existence. Its red eyes were the only distinguishable feature about them… Most of them were a murky, chestnut colour…though, over the years, some had adapted to having a range of colours; like blue, green, and even red. Their eyes were mostly always red as well, though some had a distinguishable lime green…or others with a lemon-yellow shade."

"What did they look like, Lloyd…?" Colette finally asked, taking the question out of everybody's mind.

"Their appearance…?" Lloyd asked as he noticed Regal slowly moving from behind him, their desert ready. "Do you _really_ want to know…?"

Zelos, Colette and Genis all nodded their heads instantly as Sheena and Presea watched him intently. Raine starred at his face, intent on finding out for herself, though she would never admit to being interested in this foolish, made-up story.

"So you _really_ want to know…?" Lloyd asked again, slowly picking up his plate from Regal, who was still behind him.

"Yes!" Colette, Zelos and Genis all called in sync.

Lloyd's grin widened.

"If you really wish to know then…"

-

"First off, like I said before, the monsters were all about a foot and a half tall. They had large, normally red eyes, which were always pupiless and deep in their colour, normally that of a fruit. Their body-colour ranged wildly after the first few years, from normally chestnut to now gooey shades of red, blue, green and purple. They were shaped similarly to that mountain," He pointed at the top of Hima. "Though, more curved, and with way less indents than that. They had goo all over their body, as if a protective layer of slime; too thick to see down to their actual body…saying that they _had_ one…"

"Wow," Colette murmured, putting her hands up to her mouth in awe. "That's so hard to imagine!"

"Really…?" Lloyd asked as he lifted his head from the arm that was resting on his knee. "Do you really think so…? I find it quite easy to imagine…"

"Wow Lloyd! You must have a good imagination then!" Colette praised.

"No, that's not what I mean." Lloyd said with a disturbingly evil grin. "I meant that I've seen them before. I told you…this story is _real_…"

Zelos shivered all over once quickly, before cocking an eyebrow at the twin swordsman.

"You _can't_ be serious!" He challenged, his arms in a tall, defiant shrug. "There's _no_ way that those things exist!"

"Really…?" The twin swordsman asked in an eerie way. "Do you truly doubt me…? Do I need to…_show_ you…?"

Genis shivered hard again as his large, blue eyes widened in shock. He _hated_ monsters! How could he _possibly_ think that he wanted to _see_ one?!

Zelos snickered in amusement.

"Fine then." He said, pulling out his sword heroically. "I'll show the 'ultimate beast' a thing or two!"

Lloyd's creepy grin grew another inch.

"Fine then, Zelos…if you _really_ wish to fight it…then turn around."

Everyone's face turned pale, especially Zelos', as they moved their stares in the direction that Lloyd indicated. It was too dark to make it out entirely, but the shape told them all as they starred at the outlines of a large, foot-tall, mountain-shaped beast, slowly jiggling continuously.

Zelos stumbled back in shock. The beast was a tiny bit more than three feet away from him, and the now-dying cinders of their fire only made the monster look bigger and more threatening then he had originally imagined.

"Ah!" He cried out before holding his sword before himself defensively.

"What's the matter, Zelos…?" Lloyd asked as he leaned his chin onto one of his swords, now neatly in the ground before him. "Aren't you going to strike the 'ultimate-beast' like you said…?"

The beast jiggled as Zelos took a step towards it, making him retreat once more back towards the dying fire. He wearily moved his sword an inch before flinching back as it jiggled again.

"H-how'd it get so close?!" He demanded, the party's eyes flicking from the Chosen to the beast.

Lloyd shrugged.

"You must have not been paying enough attention to your surroundings. Foreshame, Zelos…"

The Chosen gave Lloyd a glare over his shoulder before finally drawing up the courage to hold his sword out before the beast.

"W-well I'm not going to lose to _this_ slime!" He howled and he whipped his sword vertically at the monster.

As soon as the sword hit, it instantly cut the beast in half, leaving a gooey, caramel-coloured fluid on the end of his sword.

"Ah-hah!" Zelos cheered triumphantly as Lloyd stood and stepped towards the Chosen.

"Heh, good job, Zelos!" He said, giving him a hard pat on the back. "I need to congratulate you on your feat! I just can't believe that you defeated the Flan!"

Zelos punched his fist into the air and howled victoriously.

"No one can stand up against the Chosen of Tethe'alla! Human _or_ the 'ultimate beast'!"

Lloyd nodded enthusiastically.

"Then…since I could _never_ beat a Flan like you, Zelos…can I have it's corpse as a keepsake…? I've always wanted to have a Flan's 'hide'…or whatever you'd call it…"

"Heh, go ahead, Lloyd-my-pal!" Zelos said cheerfully. "We can't _all_ be gifted with good looks _and_ fighting abilities!"

Lloyd nodded again, this time more enthusiastically.

"Thank you _so _much, Zelos!" He grinned cheerfully as he reacted down and picked up the remains of a plate. "I _love_ eating flan pudding!"

They all starred at the swordsman in horror as he took a bite out of the caramel-flavoured desert. The multiple questioning looks told Lloyd that they didn't know what had just happened…especially Zelos, who was gawking at him with his jaw dropped.

"What…? Never hear of 'flan pudding'…? A specialty in Altavista." He explained with a large grin. "I had it for the first time when we visited, and it has to be one of my _favourites_!"

Regal nodded, a small smile on his face.

"Yes. Lloyd asked me to make it for tonight's dinner…though I could not have possibly imagined that he would create such a show for our specialty desert…"

"Oh! I get it _now_!" Colette chirped cheerfully. "Lloyd just stole Zelos' desert from right under his nose!"

Genis couldn't help but laugh as he looked at the expression on the Chosen's face.

"H-how was I out witted by…by…_him?!_" He demanded, trying to make sense of it in his mind.

Lloyd's grin grew a tiny bit more as he finished the Chosen's desert in one final, large gulp.

"Isn't it obvious, Zelos…?" He asked as he took his seat back on his rock and started on his own pudding.

Zelos shook his head desperately.

"No, it _doesn't_ make sense!" He complained. "The _world_ doesn't even seem to make sense anymore!"

"Then what's 'obvious', Lloyd?" Raine asked as she starred at her own jiggling desert. She really couldn't bring herself to eat it after _that_ story…

Lloyd's grin grew even more as he savoured every bite of his pudding.

"That I'm smarter than I look!" He exclaimed.

Silence filled the air as the party starred at Lloyd, the newly-made fire showing his every characteristic from his brown, spiky hair to his red boots.

The party broke into hysterical laughter moments later.

"What's so funny…?"

-

As Lloyd's plan went, hardly anyone had touched their flan pudding…minus Genis, Colette and Regal…therefore, he took up the honour of disposing of the 'evil beasts' himself…in his stomach.

"By the way, Lloyd…" Raine asked a bit after the final pudding had plummeting into the swordsman's stomach.

"Yeah?" He questioned.

"You said that the story was _real_…so if that's the case…who was this 'sorcerer'…?" She asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

Lloyd turned pale, even for the brave, knuckle-brained boy that he was.

"Erm…that was…you…?"

Silence once again filled the air that night before a familiar cleric finally howled her two favourite words from her teaching days.

"_LLOYD IRVING!"_

-

Off, miles away from Hima, in a large, mountainous region, several small, pudding-shaped monsters 'sat' around a fire, created by a large, red, pudding-like version of themselves.

"And that, children, is how our clan of flans, was created."

_End._

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So…how was that…? Took me two classes to finish! (Yes, I did this _all_ at school!)

XD XD You can presume what happened to Lloyd in the end…not that it's a big mystery with _RAINE_… But now we _all_ know _who_ created the Flans… Raine Sage…and for all of you flan-haters out there…good luck, on your hunting!

This will be a oneshot, unless there're any other ideas, for random food-based monsters that I can use… (NOT AN ODDISH!)

So, Please R&R, and I hope that you liked my first ToS fic!

Edited, I comma-spliced BADLY…hopefully this is much better. I found some errors too, so whee. R&R please!


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